Depression in Dementia Care: Challenges for Detection and Care Pathways
A co-designed training programme to support recognition of depression in dementia

Background: Depression is common in people living with dementia, yet many cases go undetected and untreated. Given that depression can worsen dementia prognosis, there is a need for strategies to raise awareness to support early identification and intervention.

Co-design: Training materials were co-designed through two workshops with 9 people with lived experience of dementia and 6 professional stakeholders.

Training materials: Topics included the main symptoms of depression, how they can be recognised in dementia, and what support is available.

Mixed-methods feasibility study: Participants: 29 professional carers from community dementia services. Data collection: Pre-post questionnaire, Feedback questionnaire, Qualitative interviews.

Results: Carers viewed the training as relevant to their work, easy to understand, and realistic within busy care roles. Awareness (d=1.15) and confidence  (d=.91) increased. Understanding personality, preferences, and behaviours facilitates noticing subtle changes. 

Conclusions: This study provides support for the acceptability and feasibility of the training programme, with preliminary evidence of improvements in awareness of and confidence in recognising symptoms of depression in people living with dementia.